National's Conservation Dance, The Blue Green Spin

1)
National has created seven new marine reserves and we now have 9.5% of our
territorial seas brought into reserves and sanctuaries (one step forward).
Quick twirl. The Government has opened up much of our territorial
waters for oil exploration, including our Maui's
Dolphin sanctuary. Michael Field's book The
Catchreveals the need to properly manage the fishing industry to
stop the human and environmental exploitation currently occurring (three steps
back).

2)
2500 km of a national cycleway have been completed and $100 million proposed to
accelerate cycling in urban areas (one step forward). Quick twirl. The NZTA has
only a small handful of people employed to support cycling. The Government is
continuing with their $13 billion motorway development and the amount being
spent to support public transport is a tiny fraction of the transport
budget. We are
well behind Europe with our support of cycling in our urban areas and
even in the car dominated US many cities have introduced safe cycling routes (three
steps back).

3)
Spending $30 million on the use of 1080 to control pests in over a million
hectares of conservation land (one step forward). Quick twirl. It is just a
pity that the ongoing work of the Department of Conservation has been greatly
limited by huge budget cuts. The $30 million spent on pest control should be
regarded in context of around $70 million cut from DoCs budget since 2008 and
the hundreds
of DoC employees losing their jobs. Simon Bridges has been enthusiastically opening
up huge conservation areas for mining exploration without any
appreciation of the areas involved (three steps back).

4)
The Government is spending around $6.5 million a year over the next four years
to support 'community led' conservation around New Zealand (one step forward).
Quick twirl. New Zealand has one of the highest levels of volunteering in the
world but there is growing concern that the Government is relying too much on
good will and dedicated people who put the environment and the welfare of
others before themselves. The founder of KidsCan, Julie Chapman, has voiced
concern that she was having to do what the Government should be doing.
The $27 million to be spent encouraging volunteers to do conservation work will
be replacing, to a large extent, the $70 million cut from employing properly
trained people. Those volunteering feel passionate about what they do and will
be working long hours doing unpaid work at what can be a personal cost to
themselves (three steps back).

The Blue Green Spin is a backwards moving dance that causes all those involved
to run out of space and eventually have their backs against the wall. It looks
attractive for a time but quickly ends when there is no more room for movement.
There is no recovery when our Maui's Dolphins become extinct, important
conservation land is permanently damaged through mining and our native fish are
lost forever. It costs much less to say no to environmentally damaging
industries than spend huge amounts to try and repair the resulting damage afterwards.
I, for one, don't want to dance to this National Government's tune.